Traditional Hon Gyokuro

Description

! This Gyokuro is the winner of Japanese National Tea Competition !

Hoshino village in Yame is nestled in the mountains of southern Fukuoka. The tea fields are stretching out endlessly along clear rivers and lush forests. The area is especially well known for producing spectacular tea.

Mr. Takaki grows sencha, kabuse-cha and gyokuro in a traditional way with great care.

To qualify for a real, traditional gyokuro 3 conditions have to be fulfilled:

teaplants are first covered 10 days with bamboo blinds in order to cut 60% of the light. After this a top of rice straw is added for 10 more days. This way minimum 95% of the light is cut.

The tea is harvested by handpick

The tea is picked on uncut tea. This way there is only one crop a year possible.

This particular traditional gyokuro is made from the Fuji-midori cultivar.

The leaves are uniform and very fine rolled needles.On the nose it is dense and sweet with mineral and fruity notes.On the palate there is umami, red fruits and some vegetal flavours, all in very elegant way.